There’s no denying the impact of the jet age on automotive design; from the GM LeSabre concept through the Chrysler Turbine Car, jet aircraft design played a large role in the styling of automobiles during the 1950s and 1960s. Also known as “Mid-Century Modern,” “Jet Age” styling embraced the longer, lower and wider ethos, emphasizing the use of ample chrome and sizable tailfins. As pickup trucks moved off the farm and into suburban driveways, Jet Age styling also played a role in their design; this July, the Concours d’Elegance of America at St. John’s will recognize this with a class dedicated to High-Style Haulers: Pickups of the Jet Age.

Though pickup trucks date to the turn of the century, most prewar models favored function over form. Designed for work, little thought was given to style or amenities, but as Americans became more obsessed with design in the postwar years, pickup trucks became more than just utility vehicles. This can be seen in the growing number of truck registrations: In 1941, 640,697 light trucks were registered, according to R.L. Polk. By 1950, this number surged to 1,142,307, proving that pickup trucks were appearing at more than just job sites.

The growth in sales was to be short-lived, as registrations fell during the Korean War years. Looking to shore up sales, pickup truck designers began to pay more attention to aesthetics, and in 1955, Chevrolet launched the Cameo Carrier pickup, arguably the first “jet age” truck design and certainly the first “personal luxury” pickup. Its designer, Charles M. Jordan, was an Air Force Reserve officer and had ample downtime to sketch futuristic pickup designs during his tenure at Florida’s Cape Canaveral. Upon his return to General Motors, and with support from GM’s truck studio chief Luther Stier and Chevrolet engineering head Ed Cole, Jordan’s designs were quickly progressed from sketches to production models.

In addition to their aerodynamic lines, Cameo pickups sported design touches like vestigial tailfins, extending beyond the liftgate tailgate and merging with the chrome bumper to give the appearance of a single large vertical stabilizer. Wheel covers even featured a jet turbine design, offering up far more style than the traditional “dog dish” hubcaps routinely slapped on pickup wheels. Even the paint was meant to impress; from the outset, Cameo pickups came in a two-tone livery designed to lure the car-buying public into the cab of a particularly well-appointed truck.

Chevrolet’s opening salvo was soon answered by other manufacturers, with International producing its A-Line Golden Jubilee pickup in 1957 and Dodge building its D100 and Fargo (for export) Sweptside models in 1958. With the Cameo pickup at the upper end of the price range, Chevrolet even brought jet-age styling to a more affordable pickup offering with the introduction of the 1958 Apache Fleetside, which featured rocket-motif trim, available two-tone paint and a price tag considerably below that of the fiberglass-fendered Cameo. Though both models would coexist for the 1958 model year, by 1959 the Apache Fleetside had replaced the discontinued Cameo in Chevy’s lineup.

It was Ford that launched the next evolution of jet-age pickup, with its 1957 introduction of the car-based Ranchero sedan pickup. Its tailfins were even more pronounced, culminating in taillamps meant to resemble jet exhausts. Even the plunging chrome trim that separated the Ranchero’s upper and lower paint colors denoted motion, making the Ranchero the most heavily styled pickup to hit the American market. No heavy-duty hauler, the Ranchero was still billed as having half-ton pickup capabilities, with the style, comfort and driveability of an automobile.

GM countered with its own car-based pickup, the Chevrolet El Camino, in 1959. Its aircraft influence was even more pronounced than Ford’s Ranchero, with prominent “intakes” adorning the hood and front fenders above the headlamps, a javelin-shaped trim strip running the length of the body and “wings” sprouting from the rear of the cab and flowing rearward into the tailgate. Consumers favored Chevrolet’s design, and the El Camino quickly became the sales leader in segment.

1959 Pontiac “El Catalina” prototype. Photo by Richard Lentinello.

Per Greg Cockerill of the Concours d’Elegance of America selection committee, the event’s past success with Jet Age convertibles and station wagons, as well as with “Space Age” sport coupes, made this year’s category of High-Style Haulers: Pickups of the Jet Age a logical choice. Though the field for the class has not yet been finalized, early entries include many of the trucks referenced above. Perhaps the most unusual is a 1959 Pontiac Safari “El Catalina” prototype, owned by Tom Gerrard of Manalapan, Florida, and featured in the October 2011 issue ofHemmings Classic Car. It’s believed to be the only one officially built by Pontiac to test demand for a Pontiac-branded variant on the Chevrolet El Camino pickup, although parts for three pickups were reportedly ordered and a second prototype was said to have been built “after hours.” Another rare entry is a 1958 Fargo Sweptside, owned by Rob Reimer of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and visually similar to the 1958 Dodge D100 Sweptside. Other trucks confirmed thus far include a 1955 Chevrolet Cameo Carrier owned by Roger James of Buffalo, Minnesota; a 1957 International A-Line Golden Jubilee owned by George Brown of Hillsborough, Tennessee; a 1958 Chevrolet Apache Fleetside, owned by Mark Calvert of Columbiaville, Michigan; a 1958 Dodge D100 Sweptside, owned by Mark Desing of Clinton, Wisconsin; and a 1959 Chevrolet El Camino owned by Jane Argenendt of Jefferson City, Missouri.

The Concours d’Elegance of America at St. John’s will take place on July 27, on the grounds of the Inn at St. John’s in Plymouth, Michigan. For additional details, visit ConcoursUSA.com.

The colours used on this Fargo are not authentic. All Sweptside trucks were built in the same U.S. assembly plant and the colour present in the middle of this truck is far too dark. The red is close to an original colour, but again is not authentic.

It’s true that 2dr station wagon quarter panels were the basis of the quarter panels used on the Sweptside trucks, but the truck panels are 5-6″ longer than those used on the wagons. If you ever have a chance to examine one of these trucks closely, you’ll be able to see the latch face of the wagon quarter panel.

Fargo was a nameplate used, I think, exclusively in Canada, for trucks that went through Chrysler-Plymouth dealers. It went away after the Automotive Trade Agreement of 1965. The fact that the picture shows snow on the ground makes one suspicious that it was taken in the Great, White North.

Canada also got Mercury versions of the Ford light- and medium-duty trucks, sold through Lincoln-Mercury dealerships, up until the late 60s.

GM offered Chevrolet trucks through Chev-Olds-Cadillac dealers, and GMC was part of the Pontiac-Buick franchise, in those days, so there weren’t any unique trucks up there, in contrast with the B-body Pontiacs (Parisienne, Laurentian, Strato Chief), and the Acadians and Beaumonts of the era for compact and mid-sized offerings.

I think Fargos were still sold by Canadian Plymouth dealers till the early ’70’s.

The Mercury pickup was sold by Canadian Mercury dealers up to 1968. Think March ’68 was the end of production. My family had one of the last of the Merc trucks. It was a ’68 M 250…3 on the tree…painted yellow. It was used as a work truck for the family business.

Canadian market full size, Pontiacs back then were Pontiac bodies on a Chevy frame (no wide track) with Chevy powertrains. You could get inline sixes, 283’s, 327’s 348, 409, 396 and 427 Rat for engines.

Be an interesting race….’67 Canadian market Pontiac 425hp/427 Rat…vs American market Pontiac with a 421 SD.

Many of the Chrysler product trucks sold in Turkey are badged as DeSoto. When the last of Chrysler’s medium duty trucks were being built at the company’s Tecumseh Road Truck plant in Windsor Ontario, I managed to photograph some DeSoto badged D600 crew-cab trucks awaiting shipment.

That last Fargo link you provided of the Fargo ambulance is interesting.

Looks like it was in a movie scene and that the scene looks like it may have been filmed in Winnipeg. Those buses in the background have a paint job that was very similar to the Winnipeg Transit System back in the 1970’s.

Howard, that impressive hood off that Hudson triggers an “urban legend” for me. You see, the deep-drawn stamping of that prow [perhaps a more fitting name for it] gave the manufacturer fits, as the design was very prone to cracking, and the rejection rate was high, as were the repairs when they survived stamping but cracked in service.

Now, my home town of Shadyside, Ohio has a stamping plant that was built in 1951.

I remember our teacher leading us down there for an organized tour of the place [the school was less than a half-mile away, so we walked over, cutting thru vacant lots and all] its tall, windowed facade made it look like a Greek temple in my overactive mind. It still does.

Here’s where the urban legend comes in: it produced automotive parts for Kaiser-Frazer, and somewhere along the line it was said that it also produced those deep-drawn hoods for the Hudson trucks, as well. Whether it did or not I don’t know – probably not.

Tell ya one thing tho – when pulled behind a car on a snowy road, those beaked hoods made the best sleds EVER!

BTW When the Shadyside plant was sold, it became Metropolitan Stamping, and then later produced Prowler Parts for Plymouth. The plant is quite active today, and Shadyside remains an idyllic Mayberry RFD-type town, albeit with a disproportionate senior population – a bright spot in a sadly depressed Valley.

When I went to college in Iowa in the id-1950’s we visited the farm of a fellow student’s father. He had a little farm pond, and a boat made of two of those Hudson hoods welded together – the vertical cut line at the back of the hood made that an easy thing to do.

They had a great “pickups” exhibit at The Peterson Museum when I was there a couple of weeks ago. The ’37 Hudson Terraplane was unreal! It looked like something out of a Dick Tracy comic. They also had a Studebaker Champion Coupe “Delivery” that was like a business coupe (or, businessman’s coupe) but the trunk was replaced with a little pickup bed / box. It was pretty slick. Another one was a Powell, which I’ve only seen in person once before. Talk about a company designing the truck as a whole; although, the fascia / grille wasn’t exactly aerodynamic.

That was a cool thread, Mr. McNessor and Mr. Donnelly always do such neat truck articles in HMN. I’m surprised I didn’t comment on that, but I think I was in Northern Wis. at the time, and the “Internet coffee shop” that had free Wi-Fi wouldn’t let me access Hemmings for some stupid reason.

Isn’t that sort of a tomato / tomahhto, envelope / on’velope thing? They both function the same way; hinged at the bottom and lifting up to latch at the top. Maybe it’s a regional thing (just playing the devil’s advocate), there could be a variety of reasons why it’s known as the liftgate as opposed to a tailgate. I could be wrong (and, probably am).

A liftgate hinges at the top and opens from the bottom. Hence the word “lift”. A tailgate hinges at the bottom and opens from the top. There IS a difference. Liftgates were used on most sedan deliveries and some panel trucks, while tailgates were used on wagons and trucks.

Hi Bob, I agree, to me it’s always been tailgate. A liftgate was something on the back of semi trailers or straight trucks( had one on a pickup once) that was a hydraulically controlled platform, and LIFTED or lowered goods from the cargo hold.

Hi Scott, I don’t know, I like the El Catalina, but I’m not so sure how it would have sold. I’ve always felt, Chevy owners were more “hands on “, blue collar types, where it seemed, Pontiac was geared for more white collar (Pontiac “Executive” comes to mind) types, and perhaps GM knew that.

I agree about the curb appeal, it’s a neat looking truck. I’d buy one today, just for the looks. I was 15 in ’59 and they were the “cat’s meow”. That said, most owners rapidly realized that they (El Caminos, Rancheros, etc.) weren’t very good cars (limited ability to push the seat back and none to recline it), and were near worthless as actual pick-ups trucks. If all you needed to haul was a couple of 2x4s or two or less sacks of cement, you were OK, but they had little carrying capacity (cube or weight) or towing capacity; less than my S-10. If all you really needed was a high style two seat commuter car/Saturday night drive-in cruiser, they were SUPER! (That is, unless you had an other-than-transportation interest in a back seat!)

My dad had a ’59 Ranchero then a ’64 and finally a ’66 El Camino. He used them like a truck; even put a 5th wheel in the ’66 so he could pull a 2-horse 5th wheel trailer (that didn’t pan out very well). The Ranchero was far tougher than the Caminos but they all could take a lot of punishment. The ’66 Camino is still in the country, looking OK.

These were “GENTLEMAN” pick ups, You impressed your date with your NEW P/U.
They are excellent for watching games, looking at the stars, watching the fire-works. Put you lawn chair in the back (folding), throw in a 6 pack and you can see over those people standing even .
I watch the 4th of July fire-works in the shopping mall parking lot every year this way…

I had a 1977 Chevvy El Camino, last of the Big ones. Used it 2 haul water meters, we usta routinely oveload the damm thing, with much more than a 1/2 Ton pickem-up would tolerate! Many adventures with it! Ultimately bought it after it was “used up” (financially speaking) and used it 2 drag around a 24′ Trailblazer Camper and much stuffs on my farm. Still got it, but it is down in the edge of the woods, all rusted out. Many years since it ran. Ahhh, memories!! CC, now on Mindanao.

In ’63 I lived in Michigan,and worked at the Pontiac Mall.Had a friend,Chuck,who was a salesman at the Pontiac dealership across from the plant.He took me on a “tour” of the basement,upon which I spotted TWO Pontiac trucks,vintage’59.When I moved back to the Chicago area I told people.but no one seemed to care.

How could you exclude the 60-66 GM trucks from this list?!?! Especially the 60-61s with the jet-like air intake “double bubble” hood. Probably some of the most jet-inspired regular production trucks of all. I’ve heard many people refer to these trucks as “aero” trucks. They’re favorites of mine.

Who could look at these beauties and not just drool with envy ?…Although the topic here is “jet age trucks” it’s interesting to me that as I looked at the photos I kept thinking about how wonderful Native American blankets would look displayed on some of the trucks. And with names like Apache, El Camino, El Catalina, Fargo, etc…there certainly was a decidedly “Western” train of thought when these wonderful trucks were conceived. Boy, what a difference between these and todays modern steroid injected trucks….yuck !

I can just picture every eight-year old kid in the 50s drooling over these fancy trucks, not to mention their dads, and, some moms, even. They almost look like big toys; stylish and colorful. It would be fun to see so many of these pickups all in one place. Plymouth, MI is the place to be.

That International is cool, although, like the Studebaker pickup, the cab and box don’t quite come together as one package like the others seem to have been able to pull off.

You clearly are not familiar with the major change in equipment styling that occurred in the 1930s. The likes of Henry Dreyfuss (20th Century Limited) and Raymond Loewey (1953 Studebaker) designed streamlined sheetmetal for agricultural tractors.

There was a time when owning things that appeared to have been designed by stylists rather than accountants was actually not considered unmanly.

That was an experiment that failed. MM’s idea was to offer a tractor that you could plow your field with, then hitch up the flatbed and load it with produce to sell in town. They also offered a very tall high gear so it would clip right along. It had side by side seating, and a cab heater (optional). The idea went down the tubes because it wasn’t practical.

Story has it that Joe Oros, then head of the Ford design studios told his design team to,” Give them a truck that they can drive to church on Sunday.” which in my mind tells it all.
Howard Payne, retired Ford Design Manager hpayne1@comcast.net

I have a ’70s El Camino that I’ve been wanting to blend with a Pontiac Grand Am nose and interior. I’ve been wondering what I would call it when finished. I think “El Catalina” sounds like just what I was looking for.

As with many GMs and others of the day, my ’59 Chevy Fleetside has a jet airplane on the hood featuring an arm shredding tailfin! The side trim on the side of the bed, not on the ’58 pictured, resembles a rocket.

Also, I didn’t see it mentioned, but I believe that like the Dodge Fargo Sweptside, the Cameo’s fiberglass bed sides also simply bolted on to a standard step side bed.

Studebaker used Dodge’s [one year only] 1960 Sweptside box on the Champ truck. Purchased from Chrysler and used with no change other than the tailgate name.

Since Studebaker set the precedent using the ’60 Dodge Sweptside box, I have always thought a Studebaker Champ using a 1958 D-100 Sweptside box, 1957 Packard steering wheel, dash, and bench seat, and 1957 Packard front clip [but with 1958 Packard fenders (sans the dual headlights) to eliminate the fender vent doors, and finishing with ’57 Packard side trim, would make a great Packard truck…El Caribbean.

[As the Champ truck was based on the Studebaker Lark, which was basically a ‘bobbed’ 57/58 Studebaker/Packard sedan, the front clip, dash, and seat are basically a bolt-in.]

Can you imagine the Chevy guys seeing El Catalina for the first time…then RUNNING…not walking…to GM’s Top Brass begging for a non-production order on El Catalina…just like they did on the Fiero when they realized it had the potential to kick their prima donna’s Corvette butt.

Really ? ? A stock Fiero that can kicked a stock Corvettes butt?
I would like to seeee that.
At the BIR track, there are many different vehicles that show up on Wednesday nights, even Fiero’s, but never have seen one THAT good.

The last GT V6 renditions of the Fiero gave a hint of what could have been. And don’t disregard the GM six. Remember, for several years, Jeeps powered with GM designed V6 power were some of the fastest vehicles plying U.S. roads. [When the gas crisis hit…GM took their six back from Jeep. A contract clause gave GM the option to pull back the engine if they so desired.]

Will share a quick story. MANY moons ago, a friend had a 6 cylinder slant six Dart set up for the track, then made street-able. He liked to have fun with STOCK 327 ‘vettes.

One evening he challenged a ‘vette to a quarter mile run. The ‘vette took the Dart by five lengths. Dart-man asked for a rematch, and the ‘vette driver obliged.

At the end of race two, which saw the ‘vette three lengths behind the Dart at the ‘checkered flag,’ Vette-man said, ‘I knew I’d been had when Dart-man popped the hood, tossed away the air cleaner, and fiddled with the jets.’

Nice story. But in all the old ads I have seen the Dodge and Fargo pickups used the name “Sweptline” , not Sweptside. And the smooth sided IH pickup was called the Golden Anniversary Special, 1957 marking fifty years of International trucks. Those International “Specials” were only built in the 1957 and 58 A series pickups and are rare and collectible now.

I’d have to check to be sure but I believe the 9′ (don’t recall ever seeing a 10′ box) utiline style box was offered from the postwar 1940’s through to either 1958 or 1959 on the D300/equivalent vehicles. I don’t recall it being offered when the cab was refreshed in 1960/61.

Kevin M, regarding the Turkey bound Dodge trucks badged as Desoto, the situation may have been similar to that in 1958 in South America.

There, no new [foreign] auto company dealers were allowed to be established, BUT dealers were allowed to order vehicles for a company already licensed to do business. One dealer, licensed to sell Packard vehicles, ordered 42 Packard pickup trucks.

Studebaker, desperate for money in that year of U.S. recession, rebadged Studebaker trucks and shipped them to the South American Packard dealer.

Incidentally, those trucks were the last products to be produced under the Packard name plate…an ignominious end to that fine luxury motorcar company.